KIEV, Octobet 6. /TASS/. Ukraine’s foreign ministry has summoned the Russian consul over the detention of a Ukrainian national Roman Sushchenko suspected of espionage in Russia, the ministry’s spokesperson Maryana Betsa said.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has forwarded the second note to the Russian Foreign Ministry as our demands to allow our consul to meet with the illegally detained Roman Sushchenko have been disregarded. In addition, the ministry has summoned Russia’s consul in Ukraine because the Ukrainian citizen’s legal right of defense has been violated," the Ukrainian Ukrinform news agency quoted Betsa as saying.

On October 3, the Center for Public Relations of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said that Colonel Roman Sushchenko, a staff member of the main intelligence department of Ukraine’s defense ministry, had been detained while conducting an espionage operation. According to the Center, "the Ukrainian national was purposefully collecting information on the Russian Armed Forces and National Guard, constituting state secrets, the disclosure of which could have undermined Russia’s defense capabilities." The FSB launched a criminal case against Sushchenko on espionage charges.

The Ukrinform news agency reported that the detainee was their correspondent in France. The news agency claims that Sushchenko was in Moscow on vacation.

On Monday, Ukraine’s foreign ministry lodged a protest over Sushchenko’s arrest and demanded "his immediate release and unimpeded return to his native country.".